Mummy's Mask and PAX West

Tuesday, August 22, 2016

We are wrapping up the very final stages of Mummy's Mask—probably the coolest set we've done yet, I don't mind saying—and it's gotten kind of crazy toward the end. The stuff we've gone back and forth with Vic on... well, let me tell you, when he says "I have no idea how to do that" more than once in a day, you know you're blazing some new ground.

This past week, we found that in Adventure 3 alone, there were no less than three scenarios which functioned like nothing else we've ever made. We rebuilt each of them multiple times, watching cards hop from place to place in manners they've never hopped before. We had to build new tech just for reading cards.

But those are done, and now we're debating the finer points of Adventures 4 through 6. Those adventures use a brand new type of support card called Defensive Stance that required us to actually pull it off the printing press because we found a new wrinkle in it. When we turn the light off on the set in a few weeks, we'll know we've left something great for you to play with. Liz Spain will get you an adventuresome preview next month.

Illustrations by Roberto Gatto and Mark Madej
The art from Camel Race Finish Line and Cameltrops, my favorite VILLAINS in the set.

A lot of folks at Gen Con got a first look at some of Mummy's Mask's subtler aspects, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. So we'll be bringing it to our biggest hometown convention, Seattle's PAX West, on September 2 through 5. In rooms 201 and 203 of the Washington State Convention Center, Organized Play Coordinator Tonya Woldridge's Adventure Card Guild team will lead folks through Season of the Runelords and Season of the Goblin as well. We might even have a new Class Deck or two to show off.

If you want to hang with the PACG design crew, you'll find all of us on the 6th floor in the Lone Shark booth, #7505. We'll be running some of our new games, signing PACG cards, and drinking the iced lattes that you bring us. Wait, did I say that out loud?

If you're really into finding out what the Lone Shark crew thinks, drop in on a developer conference I help run called PAX Dev, which is on Wednesday and Thursday before PAX West. I'll be giving a talk on Creating a Game Genre, which will unsurprisingly focus on PACG and the other games in that vein. Liz will run a discussion on dog (and gamer) psychology, Paul will talk about designing for other people's properties, and I'll deconstruct Kickstarters with Kickstarter's Luke Crane. You might also enjoy our head-to-head PAX West panel called Mike and Luke Nuke the Apocalypse, where Luke will take the "anti-apocalypse" side and I will take the "pro-apocalypse" side. (Protip: It is never smart to take the "pro-apocalypse" side in any argument.)

So it'll be a full week for the Lone Shark and Paizo crews at the PAXes. Come play with us!

Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Lead Designer